| Reconfiguration of Southern Agriculture (1865-1887) |
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Sections:- Sharecropping
- Sharecropping Contracts
- Sharecropping and African Americans
- Sample Crop Lien
- Farmer's Alliance
- Southern Agriculture and the Railroad
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| Historical Context
Sharecropping was a common arrangement during Reconstruction and involves, in theory, a land-owner and a plantation, or agricultural worker sharing profits in exchange for labor. Typically this meant the land-owner was to provide housing, food, and agricultural assistance (equipment, seeds, etc.) in exchange for the worker's services. The worker in turn lives on the land and receives a share of the crop. In practice, however, rich land-owners often exploited their workers, providing poor housing, forcing extremely long work days, and offering few crops in exchange for labor. As a result, the workers tended to become quite indebted to the land-owners, entering into what was more of indentured servitude than a mutually beneficial work agreement.
Attached Documents
The following map displays the amount of sharecropping that took place in the South.
Questions to Consider
1) Discuss the negative consequences of sharecropping? Who was most effected by this method of farming? Who most benefited?
2) In what ways was sharecropping a result of the Civil War?
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| Attached Documents
The following documents are actual sharecropping contracts. The contracts display both the legally binding nature of sharecropping, as well as the subordinated state of the workers. While appearing fair at first glance, the contracts acually display the rather unjust nature of the contracts; in actuality the land-owners benefit largely from the deals.
Questions to Consider
1) Discuss the sharecropping contracts? Could they be more fairly constructed?
2) In what ways did the economic system in place after the Civil War work against workers who did not own land in the South?
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| Historical Context
While surely unfair for workers, the sharecropping system was particularly damaging for African Americans. Southern plantation owners found their returns not nearly as profitable as pre-Civil War times and the general consensus was that the African American freedom was largely to blame. Since African Americans were no longer forced to work, it was more difficult for the land-owners to secure employment. As a result, southern land-owners lashed out at African Americans and the white politicians who supported their rights.
Attached Documents
The following article from Debow's Review entitled "Department of Commerce: Cotton and the Cotton Trade" outlines the general southern sentiment toward African Americans and the perceived threat their new freedoms have posed on the agricultural economy of the south.
Questions to Consider
1) Do you think sharecropping exploited African Americans the most? Why or why not?
2) In what ways was sharecropping in the South an extension of slavery?
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| Historical Context
The crop lien system was also widely used after the Civil War. In this system, workers were able to borrow against their crops in order to purchase supplies or pay off other debts they had built up. Farm workers estimated the value of their crop for a season and borrowed accordingly.
Attached Documents
The following document is an actual crop lien agreement from the State of South Carolina.
Questions to Consider
1) How could borrowing money on the projected values of crops prove dangerous to the borrower?
2) Discuss the implications of the crop lien credit system? Who does it benefit?
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| Historical Context
Sharecropping and the crop lien credit system had profound implications for Southern agriculture, both among the disadvantaged and land owners. In response to the high costs and low returns of farming in the South after the Civil War, Farmer's Alliances were created, particularly in Texas. This Alliance attempted to offset the changes to farming practices and costs by lowering costs and sharing farming ideas in a way that would benefit all farmers.
Attached Documents
The following document is minutes from a Farmer's Alliance meeting in Texas in 1887.
External Link to Facsimile of Document: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/railroad/fight/falliance-03.html
Questions to Consider
1) Where do you think African Americans fit in to the Farmer's Alliance? Were they considered at all?
2) How could a sharing of ideas benefit Southern farmes?
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| Historical Context
The expansion of the railroad did much for the expansion of Southern agriculture, particularly the cotton trade. Railroads provided the South with the means to distribute their crops to the North in large quantities which, in turn, raised the demand for the crops they were producing. As a result of this, Southern agriculture increased and expanded.
Attached Documents
The following chart displays the amounts of crops being transported to the North from Southern states.
Questions to Consider
1) Can you think of any negative consequences to the booming railroad industry in the South? In what other ways could the expansion of the railroad effect Southern agriculture?
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